A/N: Thanks to SilverstarsEbonyskies, Yoshi, L'ange-Sans-Ailes, Aki, Jenna Dax, Sasia, Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet, Phantom of a Rose, passing4insane, littlekittykat, luv2bamom, Crossover Fiend, BJA Fan, Anomaly25, Galateagirl, dArkliTe-sPirit, dragonbonez, Zuzanny, Nyaro, Leppers and Siren of Time for reviewing last chapter.

To me, the end of a lengthy story is like saying goodbye to an old friend. You want to see the turnout as much as everyone else (not to mention the reactions) and yet at the same time you're loathe to make everything final. Is every loose end tied up? Did you take it as far as its potential called for?

I don't want to muck around in all the "what-ifs"; I want to see a completed version that I can be proud of all its parts, beginning middle and end. I even know how it's going to end. (Which is more than I could have said about 10 chapters ago.) And at the same time, I want to please everyone; myself and the readers both, my friends who supported and rehashed ideas with me and roasted under halogen lamps while puzzling out "William's" father's name, not to mention Sam, Danny and even Jazz and Tucker. I want to end it in a way that everyone will think, "Wow, that was worth the wait and the thousands of words it took to get there". And then at the same time, I don't want to see it end at all. XD

There's a lot of dialogue about to hit you, and I'm sorry for that. This is not the last chapter, but it is setting the stage for the final bow, so I hope you all enjoy.

Estrelas

Chapter 27

by Shimegami-chan

Frowning, Sam eased out of Danny's grip, causing her to become visible. "I'm sorry, I don't want to get you in any trouble with Dad…"

Ida waved her off. "I'm not scared of your father, Samantha, dear, I did raise the man, after all. Your mother is far more intimidating. Can you guess whom they called first when they realized you were missing again?"

Sam groaned. She tried to look apologetically at Danny – after all, he'd made her promise to tell her parents where she was – but he was still stubbornly invisible. "What did you say to them?"

"I told them I hadn't seen you." Ida shrugged. "And I hadn't. I did come up here in hopes that you or your ghost friend would drop by, though. I told them that maybe they ought to give you some space before they can expect you to just get over everything."

"Are you going to tell them I'm here?" Sam asked, faintly hopeful that her grandmother would cover for her.

"Do you think I should?"

"No," the Goth said decidedly. "I have some things I need to work out, and a lot to think about. I don't want to go home until then."

Ida pursed her lips thoughtfully. "But your parents are worried about you."

"I'll call them tomorrow," Sam promised. "Hopefully, things will be changing soon. They'll see that Danny isn't dangerous, and then I'm sure they'll be okay with me staying in Amity Park for a bit more. If you don't mind me being here, that is."

"Of course not," Ida replied. "You're the only granddaughter I've got, and I'd be happy to have you stay as long as you like. I don't mind your friend Danny either…though it would be nice if I could see him."

Obediently Danny became both visible and solid, landing lightly on the floor. "I guess I missed something, since you know me, but you haven't called the Ghost Squad yet."

"I know of you," Ida corrected with a laugh.

"Danny, this is my grandma Ida, Grandma, this is Danny Fenton," Sam introduced hastily. It was awkward, but she pressed on, nervously running one hand through her ponytail. "You both already know the basics about each other, I think."

Ida nodded slowly. "It's a pleasure, Danny. I think I do recognize you from school at some point."

Danny started. "You were in school at the same time I was?"

"I was two grades ahead of your sister," she replied. "I imagine I saw you around from time to time, that's all. She was also the one who handled the sale of the house to myself and my husband years ago. How is Jasmine doing?"

"Oh, just fine, she never changes." Danny looked slightly embarrassed. "Still as analytical as ever."

"That sounds about right," the elderly woman agreed. "Well…give her my regards. Samantha, can I ask what your plans are for the next day or two?"

Sam glanced at Danny. "Danny wanted to talk about something, and then I guess we were going back to Jazz's? I hadn't really thought that far ahead yet. I get the feeling we're going to be busy with the Ghost Squad tomorrow."

"Yeah, back to Jazz's," Danny echoed. "Unless you want to stay here."

"It's probably best if I don't, not tonight, when Mom and Dad could make a surprise visit." Sam looked at her grandmother for confirmation.

Ida nodded in reply. "Then I'll hopefully see you tomorrow, dear. Don't forget to let me know how you're doing, all right?"

"I will," Sam assured.

The elderly woman shuffled slowly to the attic hatch and began to ease herself down the stairs. "I'll let you be, then, child. It's late and I ought to be sleeping. Don't forget to get some rest too, do you understand?"

Her granddaughter nodded. "I will," she said again, stifling a yawn.

"And turn off the lights when you leave," Ida's voice drifted up from the hallway. "Good night, Samantha. Good night, Danny, nice meeting you."

"Good night," Danny and Sam chorused, grinning at each other. This was the kind of easygoing grandmother Sam recalled from her memories, and it was relieving to know that now that most of the misunderstandings had been cleared away, their relationship would be returning to status quo. When the hatch had been secured and Ida's footsteps drifted away, Sam looked at Danny expectantly. He appeared to be a little nervous, running hands through his snowy white hair and glancing around the room as though searching for a distraction.

Sam laid one hand on his back and guided him to the southwest corner of the room, where the old furniture was arranged just as they'd left it. She flopped unceremoniously onto the loveseat, while Danny eased into the tattered armchair facing her, the oak coffee table between them. Sam leaned forward with her elbows resting on her knees, propping her chin up in her palms. "So, what's this all about?"

"Well," he began, "there's actually a lot I have to tell you. Everything that's happened over the past weeks has been like a dream; I'm still just waiting for the moment when I wake up and realize none of it ever happened."

"Well, it did." Sam grinned at him. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"A good thing," Danny clarified. "I never would have thought that I'd be making peace with Valerie, that she'd be sticking up for me to the town, that Vlad would be helping me, and I'd see my sister and Tucker again…and I never could have anticipated meeting someone like you, Sam."

"Aww." Sam's cheeks reddened in embarrassment.

"It's true," he persisted. "All of this is because of you. If you hadn't convinced me to come out and talk to you that day, I'd probably be up here for the rest of eternity, whiling away what was left of my psyche. I wanted to thank you for that, and to apologize for a few things."

This is it, Sam thought, startled. This is where he tells me, 'you've affected me so much, I can move on happily now, and I'm sorry, but we'll never see each other again.' Great. There's just no winning, is there?

Danny had noticed her rapid change in expression. "Sam? What's wrong?"

"Preparing for the inevitable," she told him bluntly. "After a speech like that, what am I supposed to expect, other than 'thank you, and I'm sorry that I have to leave now, nice meeting you'?"

"It's not like that at all, I swear!" Danny cried, his green eyes flaring.

"Then why are you apologizing?"

"That is…" He looked away, directing his gaze at the wooden table. "Well…I got you in a lot of trouble with your parents, and I put you in danger, besides. I feel bad that you got so tangled up in the things going on around me that it affected your life."

Sam breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe she'd been overreacting…? But she felt that there had to be more bombshells left to be dropped. There was no clear and simple resolution to their newest problem; namely that she was a human and Danny was once again a ghost. One that would hopefully be welcomed again by the town that had once scorned him, but a ghost nevertheless.

"There's more," Danny continued, still not lifting his eyes to look at her. "More than once, I lied to you about me, thinking I was doing the right thing for you. I won't say that was necessarily a wrong decision, because it seemed like a pretty good idea to me at the time. I'm just used to trying to protect everyone all the time, and it was getting me in trouble long before you ever came along."

"We talked about this already. You don't need to apologize again," Sam said reasonably.

Danny shook his head slowly. "No, let me finish, there's more to this than you know. Ever since I got my ghost powers, I've been constantly struggling to make everyone happy and do what's best for them. But sometimes it backfires. Like my parents; I should have told them my secret back when the accident first happened, and then they might have been able to cure me or at least support me. I could do without the cure, since I…" he trailed off uncertainly. "Um…there are lots of things I could never have done without my ghost powers. Even without the Fenton Portal, ghosts still materialize in the human world from time to time, ones that are actually a threat, like Spectra. It feels good to know that I have the ability to protect people from those that want to hurt them without reason. So I guess I wanted to admit to you that…I really do like being a ghost, almost as much as being human. It's freeing."

Sam nodded, indicating for him to continue, and Danny did with a long sigh. "In any case, I keep making decisions based on what I think is right for everyone else, but sometimes I'm selfish without even realizing it. I was also protecting myself from my parents when I didn't come back after the accident at the lake. I told myself that leaving Jazz, even though she was my only chance of ever being normal again, was the best thing for her. Really, I just didn't want to face that fact that she was going to leave me alone someday. And then you…well, I keep doing really stupid things with you while trying to convince myself that they're in your best interests. Like telling you Danny Phantom was some kind of monster…and denying that I had enough of a heart left to care for you. So I'm sorry for that. I guess I can't even be trusted with my own fate, let alone somebody else's."

"Danny…"

"And one last thing," he said quietly, plainly. "I've lied to you again, and I don't even have an excuse this time. At the time, I was telling myself that I didn't want to get your hopes up. Probably more like I didn't want to get my hopes up. But it worked out for the best, so now I'm going to have to own up, and just hope you don't completely hate me when you've heard it all."

Sam groaned. There was something else he'd deceived her about? This guy really had to get used to being truthful with people, because she wasn't the kind of girl who put up with dishonesty. She supposed that since he was admitting it all now instead of trying to keep things concealed, he was making a bit of progress, at least. "Oh, boy."

"I can't fit the whole explanation into a single sentence, so you'll have to hear me out here. Believe me, I won't blame you if you want to toss me through the window, just wait until you've heard it all, okay?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "Okay."

Danny interlaced his fingers, staring at his gloved hands. "I let you, and Jazz and Tucker, think that Valerie's weapon had completely taken away my ghost powers. Jazz and Tuck were so excited and hopeful that I'd get to live out a normal life that I didn't want to let them down when I realized the effects were starting to reverse."

Sam's mouth was dry. "Reverse? What do you mean? When was this?"

"Just after I went to see Vlad the first time," Danny confessed. "The same symptoms as when I first had the accident started to show up. Stuff like…suddenly, uncontrollably going invisible. Not being able to hold onto things."

"The way you dropped the Jack-A-Nine-Tails," Sam recalled.

"Yeah," he admitted tonelessly. "It just fell through my hands. I was hoping it was just coincidence and went on pretending everything was normal. Then my flying ability came back, and then intangibility. It was kind of undeniable at that point."

"I don't understand. Why would that happen?"

"Well, that's why I had to go back and talk to Vlad again. He'd told me before that the spectral properties were still bonded to my DNA, it was just out of ectoplasmic energy to work with. He thinks my ghost half started replenishing itself, and was just a bit shaky at the beginning because I wasn't actively trying to control my power anymore."

"But if your ghost powers were back during the fight with Spectra, why didn't you use them?"

"I did," Danny said, sounding a bit embarrassed. "When I was fighting Spectra in the air I was able to stop her from swinging me around. When she threw me into the tree, I used intangibility and invisibility to pass through without hitting it. And then when she tied me up inside the house, I used intangibility to get through the ropes and out through the roof."

Sam's breath caught in her throat. "You are not about to tell me what I think you are about to tell me."

"Uh…what should I tell you, then?"

"Are you saying," she pressed on, voice thin, "that you let me think you were dead when you're actually just fine?"

"Well," he mumbled, "not 'dead' so much as letting you believe for a bit that I was a full ghost. I had a reason for it, I swear."

"You'd better!" she exploded, clenching her hands into fists. How dare he? "I was actually concerned about you! I really thought you'd died in there!"

"You thought I was a full ghost before I got my memory back," he tried to reason, but she cut him off.

"That was different! I didn't see that happen in front of my eyes! You change back this instant, Danny Fenton!"

Meekly, the halfa reverted to his regular self, holding both hands up in a protective gesture. Even though she was so angry she could barely see straight, it was a huge relief to see his human side again. "I know it's not the same thing, and don't worry, I told Jazz and Tuck that I was all right. I had to, 'cause Jazz was bawling her eyes out when I showed up to drop off Tucker's car. I didn't really want to keep you in the dark, but I had to talk to Vlad first, because I didn't really know what I was going to do from here on."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked, her knuckles white on the arm of the love seat.

Danny frowned and met her gaze for the first time since the start of their conversation. "I thought I was going to be run out of Amity. Yeah, I was a halfa again, not that I ever really stopped being one, but my whole life is in Amity Park. Your parents hate me and the world knows my secret. I didn't know what to do, Sam. I thought maybe if everyone thought I was a full ghost, I could make a more permanent home in the Ghost Zone, and not have to put you and Jazz through the trouble of having to hide and cover for me…"

"Trying to protect me again? Do you have a hero complex, or what?"

"Yes!" he hissed, bringing a clenched fist down on the table. "Yes, I do, and can you blame me? Playing the hero, or at least trying to, is what I've done with my entire life. It's even worse when the things I do to protect other people also happen to be a useful way of running away from my problems. Don't you think it sounded easier for me to let you guys think I went full ghost and just back quietly out of your lives than to tell you that I botched things again, and we were back to square one with the whole 'eternal life' problem?"

"Oh, Danny," Sam whispered, much of the anger rushing out of her in one breath. "I'd forgotten about that."

"I didn't," he replied, his voice strange. "That was the other reason I went to see Vlad."

"You think he knows something that can help you?"

"I know he knows something," Danny said confidently. "Vlad was an evil genius when he was alive, but a genius nevertheless. After Val hit me with that weapon, my voice started changing, and I was healing at a normal rate for a human. That's why we thought I was, for lack of a better word, 'cured'. But it was only because the energy levels in my body had changed. The thing is, Vlad designed that gun that temporarily stripped my powers – I realized after that that it was probably based on the Plasmius Maximus, something he'd used on me years and years ago – and even though he was a half-ghost too, he never seemed to have the aging problem I did. So he had two points towards fixing my problem."

"But you said he was in an accident with the Ghost Portal, just like you."

"Yes," Danny clarified, "but his was in a malfunctioning Portal. There were impurities in the ectoplasmic energy that he was hit with back then, thanks to my Dad pouring diet cola into the machine instead of ecto-purifier. I think, and Vlad agrees, that if we can permanently decrease the amount of ghost energy in me, I'll keep aging, like it looked like I was starting to do when Val zapped me."

"So you'd keep your ghost powers, but your human side would start to grow up," Sam realized.

"'If things work out positively, I'll tell you.'" Danny repeated the words he had told her before they'd ever left Whipstaff. "I didn't want to get your hopes up again."

"And now?"

"And now, the two biggest paranormal experts in Amity Park along with the only other halfa to ever have existed, are trying to make a solution that can put an end to all my problems."

"You're kidding."

"Vlad, Jazz and Valerie are all working together." Danny laughed, looking a little embarrassed. "Who would have thought?"

Sam had to hold in a laugh. She didn't really know Vlad or Valerie, but Danny's stories about them portrayed them as the types of people – ghost and hunter – who wouldn't or couldn't get along. "I guess Valerie turned out to be more of a friend than you could have expected."

"Yeah," Danny echoed. "It's funny, 'cause we didn't even know each other all that well when we were in high school. We dated for a very short time, and then moved on to protect our secrets."

Sam's heart inexplicably clenched. "I didn't know you dated Valerie."

"It's a long story…involved a ghost named Technus who liked to possess appliances." Danny laughed. "But that's in the past now. I hear Valerie got married to a guy we both knew in high school, and she has kids who are grown up now, too. I guess the same thing happened to just about everyone else I used to know back then. Just because my sister ended up an old maid doesn't mean that I should have expected anyone else to be."

"Funny how time keeps moving on and leaving you behind," Sam mumbled.

"Once, I went to see Clockwork, the ghost of time, about my problem," Danny confided. "If there's any other being who knows eternal afterlife, Clockwork is your ghost. He's always been the mysterious, loner-type though, so he never gave me any real answers."

Although she was still listening intently, a strange, unsettling feeling had sunk into the put of her stomach. Sam began to pick at a loose thread on the arm of the love seat, separating the red strings from the brown and orange they were interlaced with. The red ones were thicker than the rest, set in an uneven crosshatch disrupted by thousands of fibres that had snapped over the years. "You'd think the Ghost of Time would know the solution."

Danny stared at the worn table between them. "I used to be angry about it, but now I'm sure he did know the solution. I only happened across Clockwork by chance one day, when Tucker and I were charting areas in the Ghost Zone. He seemed like a really stiff, by-the-book kind of guy, but he helped me out once when Vlad infected Tucker with ecto-acne. He plays by his own rules, and I think he plays favourites. I always thought he liked me."

"So why didn't he tell you how to cure yourself?"

"Because I think he knew that if things kept going as they were, I'd eventually meet you."

Sam's head snapped up. "Me?"

"Sure." Danny shrugged and looked up at the window, where the moon was hidden from sight, but still caused the visible patch of sky to glow brightly through the glass. "Clockwork probably could have pointed me in the right direction. Heck, he's the reason I know what ecto-impurities cause Vlad's acne. I hope I don't end up like that after he and Jazz make the cure." He shivered. "But Clockwork was always telling me, 'things are as they should be…or as close as they're going to get.' I could never figure him out; he talks like a philosophy textbook. What else could he mean, but that I was going to meet you, and that meeting was going to spark all these changes? Valerie and Vlad on my side and working together with Jazz? A possible cure for my aging problem? Not to mention a possible chance at a normal life again…yeah, people are going to know me as "that Fenton ghost boy" or something equally stupid, but with Val's help, they might not run me out of town. And you…" He took a deep breath. "I'll understand if after everything I put you through, you only want to be 'just friends.' Or even if you want to go back to Whipstaff and never come back…I would blame you, really."

Sam was dumbfounded. "Why would I even think about doing that? Come on, I was serious when I said that…well…you know." Her cheeks began to burn.

"I don't know. I thought maybe after everything that had happened, you might have reconsidered what you said before. I'm still not the kind of guy your parents will want around." Danny blushed slightly and hid a smile. "Social circles and all that."

"What did I say about other people's problems? I'll take care of my parents. That's my job."

Danny fidgeted. "But you'll probably be going home at the end of the summer, and my home is here, really, in Amity Park…what about the ghosts, right? Phantom needs to stay where his job is."

Sam rolled her eyes and laughed uncertainly. "Hero complex, Danny. You guys have a Ghost Squad for that, right? If you really wanted to go, they've been without you for more than a decade, so another couple of years is no big deal, right? That is, well…" She trailed off, avoiding his gaze. "I don't want to hear excuses, I just want a clear 'yes' or 'no,' okay? If you…I mean, if you're still…interested. In me, that is."

Danny paled. "No! I mean, yes, I am interested, how could I not be, I'm just not really…used to this kind of thing any more. I don't know what to say. I haven't caught up to the twenty-first century thing yet. I don't want to sound like an idiot."

"Say what you would have said if I had been there the first time around. It's not like I don't know anything about the sixties."

He nodded wordlessly and reached out to take her hand over the table. His fingers were so warm that Sam was startled at first at the contrast between him and his second self, but it was not an unpleasant feeling – in fact, she definitely thought she could get used to this side of him, too. The feeling spread up her arms like fire and went straight into her cheeks, causing a furious blush. Maybe that Clockwork guy was right…maybe this was what we were meant for.

Their eyes met, and Danny took a deep breath. "Sam, would you like to…go steady with me?"

-to be concluded…

A/N: Man, I've been waiting for so long to type those last three words. "To be concluded."

-the author is immediately killed-

… You guys didn't actually think I'd let Danny die and end this unhappily, did you?